Last week I showed you the chopping stone tool, today we move onto the Bi-face or Handaxe.
These are a couple of very nice specimens I picked up close to my house.
They are in various phases of manufacture, two were discarded as failures and never used.
The third was heavily utilized.
This is the flip side of the tools pictured above.
The two with the large lumps circled were discarded because the flaking process was incomplete. The (arrows) flakes from the sides broke away prematurely during manufacture and so the large lump of stone towards the middle could not be removed successfully.
The blue curve in the lower one shows finer chips that broke off after manufacture and indicate the tool was used quite extensively.
A successfully made tool is nice and narrow, the precursor to a blade, the circled area shows once again the finer breakage from heavy use.
The handaxe is the Swiss army knife of the stone age and has a very common oval to egg like shape
The pointed end is narrower and has a finer, blade like profile, used for fine cutting work, the more rounded base is more robust and used for heavier chopping work.
When chopping it is held like below and the damage due to use corresponds exactly.
When cutting with the sharper point, it is held between fingers and thumb, as below and corresponding finer damage can be also be seen there.
These are found throughout the world and were manufactured over a period millions of years, with only little variation over that entire period.
They represent such a useful tool that no major modifications were tried/necessary or there was a technological/intellectual stagnation during this phase of stone implement evolution.
This basic bifacially flaked tool, once developed, survived relatively unchanged up to a few 10's of thousands of years ago.
With time, they did become smaller and more intricate. Beyond a certain time span and intricacy they evolved into other more custom and single purpose tools.
Nice pieces, when I was younger I used to search for stuff like this in the corn fields behind my old home. I would find a arrow head here and there but never found anything of this size.
You in the states?
Bifaces are far less common there... most common in Africa, in some place you can find ridiculous numbers like hundreds of thousand per hectare.
Yeah, North West PA. You can find all kinds of things in the fields that got digged up by trackers.
Very insightful. I am gushing about almost everything this morning, but I have this deep need for learning more. My hubby used to be a geologist, and once he picked up an ancient tool somewhere in South Africa. I am ashamed to say, I do not even know where it is at this stage. I am now going to do my own kind of digging, finding that stone, wherever it is buried in the pile of stuff that we have gathered over twenty seven years of marriage. Than I am going to learn all about it. Thanks for the inspiration!
I like to watch Skallagrim on YT do this sometimes, but I'm more of a metal kind of guy. Making an arrowhead and a dagger these days!
Hi, nice post. I feel like in Flintstones now. XD
LOL
For sure lol😂😁😂😁😂😁
Would any of these be used for hunting / killing ?
usually butchery, and other cutting and chopping tasks
It is so amazing to see tools like this and how they were designed.
They perfectly seem to fit into your hand as you clasp it with great grip.
How long would it take to make tools like this? Would it takes hours to grind away to get a nice groove and cut?
Another enthralling post @gavvet
I can't wait for more
The unwanted stone is chipped away, much faster but less precise and it creates a razor sharp but brittle edge.
Takes someone who is well practiced 10 to 15 minutes to make one of these.
In many instances these tools have been found, made on the spot of a kill, used to butcher the animal and then discarded.
Not only was it a Swiss army knife but a disposable razor too...
It's amazing that you are able to identify those details so closely. When I look at the first picture, it's just some rocks to me. But by the end, I can see all of the stuff you point out that illuminates their use as tools.
Wooow..Whether the stone is as strong as jade or more ?
These are generally made of quartzite and other relatively hard minerals, they are stronger than Jade... Jade can be carved with quartz
Wooow, that's so amazing, What is the level of hardness of the stone. ?
7-7.5
@gavvet I'm a little jealous of your ability to find artifacts like these.
I'm lucky to find an old beer can.
What I find interesting is that the tools were obviously made to fit a hand of approximately the same size as our hands now. (Although obviously not nearly as soft and tender as most humans hands have become.)
If they are tens or hundreds of thousands of years old, does that indicate that the size and shape of our hands have been deemed relatively optimum in evolutionary terms?
Some do fit more comfortably in larger hands, others in smaller...
Hand size is a function of body size and is usually determined by nutrition, diet and robustness requirements of the environment.
Body shapes and sizes have varied widely throughout the evolutionary family tree, as they do today, where we have 4 ft and less to 7 ft or more individuals.
These are often related to race and geographical distribution today, which is a result of isolation under a certain set of conditions over very long periods.
Love this Stuff !!! i have always wanted to find a Clovis Point !!
Well that was quite interesting! I seriously wonder sometimes about the history, the people from stone age to dark ages to the golden age.
Fantastic piece, looking forward for more.
Around Antwerp we've had a wide range of activities from the Paleolithicum, Mesolithicum to the Neolithicum and onwards, even Neanderthaler activities have been found. I even found hazzlenuts that were eaten once. Mostly in the harbour area, the wastelands deliver finds, mostly spots were they chopped the stones and ate, also the river gives nice finds.
The flint itself comes from far away, southern Belgium most likely, interesting stuff. The flintmines at Spiennes are Unesco heritage.
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neolithische_vuursteenmijnen_in_Spiennes
A handaxe like we know them,
Nice to fit them into your hand and check out the possible hold.
Some pictures i have on disk, from my growing collection. :)
Wow, nice blades and scrapers.
Thanks, very cool stuff.
They say now that the ancient Belgians were the forefathers of modern Europeans. In a cave here they have found the oldest domesticated dogs.
Just north in the Netherlands near Rotterdam, they have been digging up a lot Pleistocene fossils, harpoons, flints, usually dragged of the seabed, but also on the beach.
https://www.northseafossils.com/
Cheers Gavvet!
Wow! I was really intrigued by your post on tools of the stone age, I would never know and could never tell these from the rocks all around. Were they found in a container of sorts, like a tool box? I meant it as a genuine question.
no discarded on the ground, humans have always been a throwaway species...
How then can one tell that these were tools from the random rocks? Is it that these are not rocks that are naturally found in that area?
My girlfriend is currently studying Archaeology , she also explained a bit of theory of these tools and of coarse also owns a bit of it! Great post!
Where can we get it in African countries?
where the rocks are hard and chip nicely to form a very sharp edge you will find them.
Ok thanks
Very cool. I once took a class on making stone tools. I would practice in the woods behind my house. I never left anything behind because I was concerned someone would mistake it for an artifact. Still makes me wonder how many times that happens.
Love it!! I am obsessed with history.
rock fanatic is fantastic.....
There are lots of ROCKS in Nigeria (African Country) expecially OLUMO ROCK in Abeokuta State.
Crazy to see this really long time ago humans used tools to make cloth and hunt or to build something. Life must have been easy besides the hunting and cold winters :) Find food and be happy
It would be cool to test one of these out on a tree. I wonder how it would fare. hmm... now that I'm thinking about it, my arm would probably be the first thing to break XD
these were used for butchery mostly
Nice post @gavvet
You have got profound interest in archaeology :) The Swiss Army Knife of Stone Age referred to as The Handaxe is just peerless and wonderful.. Loved every single word of the blog you have posted... Keep up the good work bro... Always love reading your posts and this one is no exception and the caption as good as the post itself "Exquisite" to say the least.
as you can see my name is meaning i love rocks and i love your posts -so unique -well done
Good Post
This comment has received a 0.09 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @hamzaoui.
@gavvet مرحبا اخى
نعم يوجد صخور تم اكتشافة من بداية القشرة تكوين الارض عمرها اكثر من 3.5 مليون سنة
بوست رائع اخى وشكرا على مشاركة
نتنمنى الحصول على بعض الدعم منك شكرا لك
very cool
Cool post! Catch myself daydreaming about being sent back in time to these eras with nothing but my own knowledge of Physics, Engineering and Maths, and thinking how I would start advancing a small civilization xD
Who else have done that, and what tools would you bring from the present day?
Haha I think a lot of us do ^^
I'd bring a lightsaber, ofcourse
Great post, rocks were the first tool in the past to build buildings to cook as protection, simply fascinating
This is awesome. Great post @gavvet
Thanks for sharing.
Nice gif!!!
Cheers, should actually have used one from vikings, more axe related... there better.
Hey how do you post gifs here? i like to post gifs @morkrock
You can create an improvised axe using that stones .. greate post very interesting thanks @gavvet
Très bon article. J'ai aimé les photos de silex elles sont magnifiques belle photos.
Merci tu es formidable.
Merci
Cordialement
Nice post
What amazes me in archaeology is the connection to the cultures long time perished. I was thinking of buying some collections of Heilderberg collections and giving it away to the museum of my city. Might start a crowdfund. Thanks for sharing this.
This is so cool to learn about, takes me back to school! Thanks for sharing!
nice post my friend
Its stone misterius, thanks for sharing
WOW amazing
Love reading this kind of Post. its infromative. Resteemed
You have some awesome finds, so glad you are sharing with us all! Resteemit for those into the rawks..
Very interesting, I like archeology ;) Upvoted and followed, if you like please check out also my blog , greetings from Poland ;)
@gavvet - Amazing find of these rock tools from thousands of years ago and a very relevant and precise analysis of the usage. After your explanation, I could take one more look and realize the cause of chipping. Now, when I visit museums, I will look out for such marks of chipping Something new I learnt today - thanks to you. Upvoted.
I went on am early morning photography and bird outing today to shake off my Monday blues. Have written a blog with collages of some nice birds (made with my original photos). I request you to take a look and let me know your views. Your comments will be eagerly awaited. Thanks
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Cool and interesting post. I'm not really related to archaeology but this has my attention! Have you found those stones by yourself?
amazing
Wow thank you for the short history lesson I do believe I have learnt something today
Super interesting post, will def be following you now!! Thanks for sharing!
Great information! My first two years of college in AZ I minored in archaeology! I upvoted and resteemed! followed too! Thanks!
Indeed a very informative and nice post. Lets get back to the roots!